Extra Credit Post

Ahh it's black friday. I didn't go shopping today though...I went yesterday at 6 pm.  Every year it seems that black friday starts earlier and earlier and of course me and my family bought into the hype. It was insane at great lakes crossing yesterday, I waited an hour and a half just to buy two t-shirts. As I was standing in line trying not to go crazy, it occurred to me that there are many parallels between the consumerism of the roaring twenties and the consumerism around the holidays in our society today.

After waiting very long in line for two shirts I realized that I had wasted my night. What happiness would buying this give me? It's literally 10 dollars off of a shirt. The great gatsby does an excellent job of showing how pointless materialism really is.


Fitzgerald was disillusioned with how america had turned into a materialistic driven country so he wrote gatsby. If fitzgerald was alive now I'm absolutely positive he would be even more disgusted than he was back then. The amount of advertising on our buildings, televisions, radios. and games is ridiculous.  This all ties back to my experience yesterday.We all know how destructive chasing money and materials is, and how money doesn't equal happiness, but we continue to buy into black friday. Why do we all go crazy on black friday? Why does buying clothes and appliances on minimal sales make us so happy? Fitzgerald and all of us had this same question. I'm afraid that we are all aware of our stupidity but we will never break the shackles of consumerism. With that being said, I'll see all of you next year for the sales! :)